


In The Actor's Studio

by 4always7caskett



Category: Figure Skating RPF
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-16
Updated: 2016-11-16
Packaged: 2018-08-31 06:41:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,118
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8568184
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/4always7caskett/pseuds/4always7caskett
Summary: Set sometime in the past year on a long car ride in which Tessa subjects Scott to a game of In The Actor's Studio.





	

Her laugh was infectious. It bounced around the small interior of his car and into his ears. His cheeks were warm with happiness, and his eyes-- he was glad to be wearing his sunglasses so he could hide just how much they crinkled with the elation she’d given him since that first time he managed to elicit such a loud, joyous, sound from her. He took a hand off the wheel to turn down the radio just so he could listen to her until her deep belly laughs became breathy giggles and ended with a big sigh. He loved her big sighs too, a signal of her readiness to join conversation again.

“You good yet, T? I’m ready for the next question.” She sighed and looked over at him with those eyes and he felt another piece of him slip away into her.

“Okay, ready…” She pushed her hair back from her face and sat up in the seat. “What is your favorite type of morning noise?”

“My favorite morning noise? Hmm, I like the sound of you.” He waggled his eyebrows at her, tilting his head forward so she could see his mischievous look over his sunglasses.

“Scott!” She turned to him, mouth agape, and batted at his arm. He chuckled and continued.

“Making pancakes in the kitchen with the coffee pot gurgling.”

“Nice save, mister. Real answer, now.” He gave her a dazzling smile and took her hand, pressing his lips against her knuckles before slotting their fingers together and resting them on the middle console.

“Fine, it’s your humming, not the coffee or the pancakes. My favorite noise is you humming in the morning. Especially when you throw in a song lyric or two.”

“I don’t hum. I’ve never hummed in my life.”

“Ohh, T, you so do.”

“Hmmm, fine.” She pulled her feet up on the seat and tucked them under herself. “Well, my favorite sound is when you’re not talking…it’s rare, I know, but oh so special.” She winked at Scott as he pouted his lower lip.

“Very funny, Virtch.”

“When did you first know you loved me?” She asked leaning her head back against the headrest.

“I don’t know, I can’t remember. It’s been a long time. Maybe forever.” He stuck his tongue out at her as he saw her eyes sparkle.

“Is that why your mother calls you ‘lover boy?”

“How do you know that?” Scott exclaimed looking over at her quickly. His cheeks grew warm and deep flush spread over his face.

“She tells me everything. I’m her favorite.”

“You will pay for this later,” Scott mumbled at her and she laughed with glee. He was so easy to get worked up.

“Who is your best friend?”

“Just asking all the hard ones, aren’t you, T? You know I’m not answering that.” She sighed quietly, turning in on herself a bit. The radio played between them filling the silence as he thought about all the other things they’d left unsaid. His mind fell deep into places he normally wouldn’t let it go.

“Why’d it stop?” He asked suddenly after a few moments of quiet, taking in the deep breath caught in his throat. He thought that maybe the sun knew exactly what he was going to say and hid behind the cloud at just that moment to make him feel extra sad. It’d been two years and it still stung like the moment where it all fell apart. No gold medal and no more best friend who was also the best lover he’d ever had and would have.

“I don’t know. We needed to stop.” She didn’t skip a beat in catching onto what he was asking. She pulled her legs in closer to her chest and turned to look out the window, guilt washing over her.

“It didn’t feel like it. I didn’t want it to stop, not like you did.”

“That’s bullshit, Scott.” She turned to look at him but his eyes were focused straight ahead. “I wanted it to work as much as you did but I didn’t even know who I was without skating, without you.” She watched the rise and fall of his chest, waiting for it to calm again.

“Then why didn’t you give us a chance? I would have been there for you through whatever you wanted to do. I just wanted to love you.”

“But I couldn’t breathe when I was around you. Scott, I loved you then as much as I do now but I didn’t even know what I wanted from myself. How could I have known what I wanted from us?” She sighed and begged him to believe her. She never meant to hurt him.

“You know you broke my heart? I had never felt as terrible as I did when you left me that night and told me we couldn’t be together. I was terrified I’d lost my chance at ever having the only future I really wanted.”

“I’m sorry.” She wiped at the tears that had started to fall silently down her cheeks. “I shouldn’t have left like that and I definitely should have told you it wasn’t forever. I just needed time.”

His eyes stayed glued on the road, both hands tightly clutching the steering wheel. Tessa reached over and rubbed his shoulder. His muscles were tense under her touch and she tried not to think about how often the year it ended she had caused a reaction like this. She felt tears welling in her eyes again and tried to blink them away.

“Scott,” she choked out and gathered herself, “it stopped because we weren’t ready, and it was scary.” He didn’t know where to look as she spoke or what more to say. She saw him swallow and watched his mouth part to take in a big breath.

“It’s scary now too…how much I love you, how much I don’t want to live life without you by my side. I could barely do it then. I tried do it but-- I couldn’t.”

“It’s a better scary now. We make it better every time we talk about it. I won’t let go again. I couldn’t survive it. I’m so sorry.”

“You’ll always be my best friend, right? Even when it gets hard?”

She reached out to take his hand then, needing him to know, to understand, he always was her best friend, she just didn’t know how to tell him. He’d always be her best friend. She’d love him longer as her best friend than as her partner or lover. It came first and it would never end.

“No matter what, Scotty, you’ll always be my best friend. Life is best with you.”


End file.
